Melissa Román Burch, Formerly of Lendlease Development | Claremont Hall in New York City | The History of Highrises
Transcript
Announcer 00:02
Welcome to American Building, a weekly recorded show whose mission is to share an alternative perspective of what we build in America, and why. Together we discover how the work of the real estate industry connects to every American. In season two, we focused on how buildings changed as a result of the pandemic. In this season, we're revisiting conversations from previous seasons, to see where Americans put their heads down at night. Together, we will discover the many definitions of home across the New York City metropolitan area, which includes over 23 million Americans. Each week, we'll visit a new building and explore complex and confusing issues related to housing access to see what they can teach us about ourselves, and our country will meet those who work to develop in thoughtful and impactful ways, who build neighborhoods to be more sustainable, affordable, accessible, or inclusive, who labor to create thriving communities, and transform the lives of generations to come. Through their stories, we will humanize often polarizing topics. Profound, surprising, and hilarious. This show is for developers and builders with boots on the ground for innovators trying to find ways to improve our industry, for the policymakers and public employees. And for any person who has walked by a building and wondered why. And now your host award winning architect turned developer and startup founder Atif Qadir, AIA.
Atif Qadir 01:53
This is American Building. And I'm your host, Atif Qadir. I'm the founder of Commonplace. Join me as it take a drive by the skylines and strip malls, crosswalks, and rail crossings, balconies, buildings and boroughs. To discover a new generation of housing. Let's build common ground.
Atif Qadir 02:26
In this episode, you will learn about the history of high rise construction and the extent of its use in housing in the greater New York City area. You will also learn how it compares to low rise in terms of affordability, inclusivity and sustainability. The fascinating story of the high rise residential building in New York City can be traced to the turn of the century Dakota Building built along Manhattan's Central Park in the late 1800s. It was the first large multi storey multifamily building intended to make living costs manageable for the middle class. over the subsequent decades as housing needs grew, so did the verticality of buildings. With the invention of concrete reinforced with iron bars or rebar for short, high rises could become taller during the Great Depression and its recovery with the New Deal and the subsequent post war population boom. Public housing first appeared on a massive scale. The ability to build high and the need to house a lot of people made the uniformity of poured in place, concrete high rises the image of middle income housing across the city by the middle of the 20th century.
Atif Qadir 03:48
The New York City Housing Authority eventually housed 5% of the city's population, and increasingly the lower income portions of the city in buildings like these. When you look at the high rise through the lens of politics in class, other elements appear through a burgeoning system of municipal agencies focused on housing, an array of public housing financing programs, and economic development incentives, targeting private developers grew. This helped to make units affordable to lower income New Yorkers through new income limits on units. But through the work of Robert Moses, for example, it increased class and racial segregation. As America was undergoing low rise single family suburbanization. The public image of who lives in these towers changed. It wasn't until the economic boom of the 1990s that D urbanization reversed course, with glass replacing concrete and urban high rises being associated with green construction and upper classes in New York City.
Atif Qadir 04:59
Katerina sees EQ in a brilliant video series for the New York Times from a decade ago asked, what do these glass buildings reveal? And what did they conceal? Architect, planner developer fellow they see and my former professor at Columbia vishawn Chakrabarti of Powell studio believes that our sustainable future isn't in high rise, but rather in low rise in an article for Atmos in December 2022. He makes the case for low rise, but high density urbanization, something between the two great trends of New York real estate, low rise, low density Levittown and high density high rise Midtown Manhattan vishawn was a guest on the show in November 2021. Check out the show notes for the links to the articles I mentioned here, as well as the episode of American building that he was on. In this episode of American building. I am sharing an edited version of the conversation I had in March 2022 with Melissa Burch.
Atif Qadir 06:11
Melissa is now the Chief Operating Officer of the New York City Economic Development Authority, the most prominent economic development agency in the country. At that time of the interview, Melissa was the Executive General Manager at LendLease, where she started the development business unit for this Australian property giant. She started her career in development at Forest City Ratner, where she worked under our previous guests this season, Marianne Gilmartin. Before development, she worked in investment banking at Merrill Lynch. She is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Harvard College. We talked about two new construction high rise multifamily projects. She was leading for LendLease. Clermont Hall in upper Manhattan is now a year later, moving to completion and sales of the condos are underway. One Java Street in Brooklyn is now a year later, starting construction with leasing expected in 2025. The ladder project includes significant affordable and sustainable components finance through the Affordable New York housing program and the NYSERDA grants. Enjoy the conversation. So thank you so much for being here with us, Melissa.
Melissa Román Burch 07:30
Thank you so much for having me.
Atif Qadir 07:32
So let's talk a bit more about your career at Forest City Ratner. So there you worked for our friend, mentor, and another guest on the podcast, Marianne Gilmartin. Tell us about what you learned working with her on our team. And then particularly on the project that you mentioned, Pacific Park and Atlantic Yards, there's a lot of supporters would have some haters, too, as well. So tell us about that.
Melissa Román Burch 07:56
So it's a great question to have. And you know, the Atlantic Yards you could really write a book about it is a very complex, large scale project and spectacularly one of a kind, at 8 million square feet, spanning 22 acres in downtown Brooklyn, and six full city blocks, it is a behemoth. It also sits on top of a transit hub, which is a really critical part of understanding its success. And also the vision for how someone could dream of situating, a brand new 20,000 seat arena and a multi million square foot residential and commercial complex of this scale at the intersection of so many neighborhoods. So the transit piece is key. I definitely cut my teeth in the real estate world through the entitlement phase of this project, have worked on it all the way since the inception, and then ultimately led the project as its executive vice president and Head of Development. And there were many, many lessons, and many things that I reflect on. But I think I'd like to bring maybe three of those forward.
Melissa Román Burch 09:04
So, you know, the first is that this was a project that required a significant amount of environmental review, it was a complete new rezoning. And it was a public private partnership with the City of New York with the MTA and with the state of New York. So there was a very intense community process that was important and needed to really position the project for the entitlement phase and to create the create the buy in within the community. And I think it really comes you know, for me, everything that I think about the community really comes back to this project. And the key learning for me is that the community is not a monolith. The community is really a mosaic. A lot of times people ask, you know, but what is the community think about this project. You is a singular voice. And you know, the community is a myriad of perspective. lives in a myriad of community groups that are sometimes in complete opposition with each other.
Melissa Román Burch 10:06
And as was the case with Atlantic Yards, there were many different community groups that had a lot of different perspectives on what the goals and ambitions of the project should be. And if they were happy with how the project was progressing. So that was a real wake up call, because it was really my first time in the development business. I had just started, you know, I just graduated from Harvard Business School, and was starting with Bruce Ratner, you know, back in 2002, when Atlantic Yards was just a seed and the idea, well, it was just a seed of an idea in his mind, and putting that project together really required this incredible coalition, and the coalition at times felt, you know, united around a certain community benefits agreement. And at times, it felt like, you know, everyone was at odds with each other. So the community is, is, you know, is not a monolith. And I think that that's a real opportunity in a genuine way for developers, because, by the way, developers also don't have one perspective either. And I think that that's where we like need to break down the conversation to really think about not just specific stereotypes of what people want or don't want.
Melissa Román Burch 11:16
But really, this is about people. Real Estate Development is about people. The community is ultimately about people. And it's about trying to forge and bring people together and to really share and enable participation in the process. So I'm really proud of the community process that took place there. I think it was highly participatory. I have a lot of memories of going to churches and giving presentations about the project about going to community board meetings, going to NYCHA complexes, and sharing about what this project could mean for the community and helping to bring people into understand some of the risks and opportunities of the development as well, because in order for people to understand how they can effectuate a development, I think there's a piece about helping folks understand what is the development process and where are we in that stage.
Melissa Román Burch 12:10
The second major learning that I had from that project is, it's such a fascinating example of how does a dense urban environment continue to grow. This was one of the few projects and one of the first projects in New York that was proposed to dec over a rail yard. So about a third of the land of this project is not on terra firma, it is going to be on a platform that needs to get erected over an active rail yard. And of course, now there are examples in New York, there's Hudson Yards, there's a place there are proposals for doing this at Sunnyside yard. But I think all of these really highlight the incredible complexity and the challenges of urban development. We obviously do not want a city that is a 10. Fer or a high density zone across all of New York, we need variety, we need different neighborhoods scale, not every place can handle the density. But density at a transit hub is where we should locate it. There is a very significant transit hub at this location. But in order to create the opportunity for the density, you had to you know, quote, unquote, create the land.
Melissa Román Burch 13:20
And creating the land is about utilizing very creatively all of the urban infrastructure that we have. But obviously, this is incredibly expensive. It's fraught with complexity. And I think though, figuring that out over the long term is going to be one of the key success pillars for New York as it tries to meet the housing needs that it is seeking to solve. The third is that is really the nature of public private partnership. And for large scale project that that public private partnership needs to have flexibility and how it creates a master plan. Because at the end of the day to develop 8 million square feet at a singular project in downtown Brooklyn, is a generational development project. It outlives any administration. And in particular, our project at the Atlantic Yards Pacific Park was entitled under Governor George Pataki. This is a state project. So I'm going to focus on the state governors for a moment to sort of highlight this point.
Melissa Román Burch 14:22
So entitled under Pataki. We then launched the sort of transition from entitlement into delivery under the Spitzer administration, which lasted about a year and a half, then followed by the Patterson administration, who was only in there for two and a half years, then then followed by Cuomo. So we already see and by the way, the project continues now with Governor copyhold. So this is an important point because not only has the partnership needed to have flexibility to manage the evolving priorities of New York City and New York State, but obviously the economy has gone through incredible transit. Since this project was approved in 2006, it went through one of the worst economic crises of our time, you know, the oh eight, great financial crisis and the ensuing recession. And then through periods of incredible boom, and now through pandemics. So my point on this is, is that public private partnerships for the generations, I think, is a interesting concept. And this one really spoke to it.
Melissa Román Burch 15:23
And I think that there was a lot that we thought about in the creation of the master plan with flexible use application so that projects could swing from Commercial to Residential or different types of residential, maybe it's rental, maybe it's condo, because you need to have ultimately a project that can be built. And in order for it to be built, it needs to make financial sense and a lot of different economic conditions. So you know, I think each time government does this, we and the private sector does this, we learn more from that process. And I don't think we've cracked it. But I think that we have contributed to the acknowledgement of the flexibility specifically in the uses in order to enable building throughout different economic recessions. Because if we're only building housing, when the capital markets are functioning perfectly, and when the, you know, cost profile projects makes sense, we're going to have these huge spikes, which is what we have often seen in New York, where we have these like very cyclical, sort of building times of housing, and then these drops, and we need to create more consistency and that delivery. And I do think that public private partnerships, because of their public sponsorship, are right to enable that consistent delivery over the course of the project.
Atif Qadir 16:43
I think that's a really astute saving that you made. And I think that connecting the first and the third point, so the one is about being able to listen and to hear what is being said by others. And then being sensitive to the priorities of governments and being able to work together on those partnerships. It feels to me there's probably two qualities that are necessary as a leader in those and you tell me what your thoughts are. It's about being incredibly empathetic, and being able to understand to hear to appreciate other people's perspectives. And it's about being very curious about why people do things, why they think the way that they think, and then being able to take conclusions from that like, what have you What have your thoughts been over the course of the working on such amazing projects on that?
Melissa Román Burch 17:27
Absolutely. Well, you said perhaps my favorite word that is one of the most critical ones that I even hire for which is curiosity. I think you have to have as a developer and insatiable curiosity, not only about how buildings work, but what people need, you know, the five why's is one of my favorite paradigms, which is just asking why five times, but it's really about trying to get to a root cause analysis or to really dig deep as to what is driving an outcome. And this is something that I absolutely learn from Bruce Ratner and Marian Gilmartin. I think one of the things that I really appreciate about poor city and I bring this with me into LendLease, and it's very much a part of the culture here is to really question fundamental assumptions. If you're going to try to do something transformative, you need to think differently, because these sites have been here forever.
Melissa Román Burch 18:23
So you have to figure out how to unlock them, and envision them in a way that others have not because otherwise the site would have already been developed. So that's sort of creativity and innovation. It is ultimately about having a curiosity that enables you to think a little bit differently about the site and about the potential for the opportunity than what others have traditionally done. So the five why's is critical. One of the things that I think that really enabled for us at Forest City was to do innovative things like modular, I was very involved with the B two modular project that for 61 Dean Street, which was in effect, a sort of live experiment on the corner of Flatbush and Dean Street, as we were delivering a full modular solution, tallest building in the world high rise for the first time with mods made in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Melissa Román Burch 19:14
Everything about that project was about questioning fundamental assumptions as to how design and construction can take place. off site manufacturing is something that LendLease is doing around the world. We have experimented a lot with CLT and have moved really past experimentation with cross laminated timber. Yes, CLT also known as cross limb and cross laminated timber, is another way of thinking about sustainable construction and utilizing off site manufacturing, to think about the job site as more of assembly versus bespoke can construction activities and moving a lot of the heavy work of construction and to purpose built factories or manufacturing facilities that are really specialized environment that can really enable safe working conditions and the right tolerances and all the things that are important in in construction.
Melissa Román Burch 20:20
So I think that those are really interesting innovations. I'm very interested in the innovation of construction. I saw that at Forest City. I see that in spades at LendLease. And I think it's one of the themes that's really going to continue to propel our industry forward. As we look out over the next decade or so.
Atif Qadir 20:37
The Claremont towel project is located in upper Manhattan, next to Columbia University and on the campus of the Union Theological Seminary. Tell us about this context and the challenges and opportunities of the site itself.
Melissa Román Burch 20:55
Absolutely. So the Union Theological Seminary was founded in 1836. So it has been an important and vital institution in New York for a long time. It is a graduate school for non denominational ministry, and it completed its campus up in Morningside Heights, which is where the campus is located back in 1910. The campus is absolutely beautiful. It is a combination of two full city blocks built in the Gothic style of architecture, the Neo Gothic style of architecture. And when the New York City Landmarks Commission was first created back in 1965, it landmarked three of the buildings on this campus just to give you a sense of the sort of history and the architecture that's really at work here. So union is situated within the cultural and academic community of Morningside Heights. And I think it's important to talk for a minute about that context of Morningside Heights, which really sets at what I call the crown of the Upper West Side, and is oftentimes referred to as the academic Acropolis. So coming back to this theme of higher education and the importance of higher education, in thinking about the vitality of cities. We call this the academic Acropolis, because you know, at first sort of references the esteemed history and architecture of the neighborhood, but also because we're really sitting in Morningside Heights at a very elevated position at the summit of a hill on the Upper West Side.
Melissa Román Burch 22:32
And, you know, lastly, obviously, the academic Acropolis because of the numerous colleges and universities, they're seven colleges within a 15 block stretch along Broadway in this neighborhood. We're talking Columbia University, Barnard City College bank, St. Teachers College, Jewish Theological Seminary and the Union Theological Seminary. I think I got them all. And one of them
Atif Qadir 22:57
when their powers combined the super team.
Melissa Román Burch 23:00
I mean, it is it is an incredible constellation of, you know, inquiry of, you know, academic, you know, endeavors. And you know, of all of these sorts of innovation and new thinking that sort of spills out of these campuses. The other thing that's happening in this neighborhood that is really important is that Colombia, committed over a decade ago to expand and grow in New York City, and is in the process of building out a $6 billion investment into a second campus called Manhattanville, which is on 120/5 Street, and is the home actually the new home of the Columbia Business School, which just opened. There's a very significant building called the mind, brain building, I think the Jerome green science center that is all focused on life sciences, research, brain research, and is really part of the cutting edge of industries that are being cultivated now with the New York as well as like performing arts buildings that are a part of this campus.
Melissa Román Burch 24:04
So it's a really diverse, you know, from a academic standpoint, second campus, and I were building at Claremont Hall and the Union Theological Seminary campus really sits at the midpoint between the main campus and this Manhattanville campus. So that really sets the stage I think, for the, for the sort of academic positioning of this neighborhood. And I think lastly, it's just you know, we have to talk about transit. This is well served by transit, right on the on the one train subway line, 20 minutes right into the heart of midtown. And of course, the incredible resources of the park system were one block from Riverside Park, which is the river, which is the ribbon park that runs all along the western edge of Manhattan. This site overlooks the Hudson River and sucker park so it is incredibly well resourced the borough I'd in terms of some of this physical infrastructure, and that really is the setting for what we can get into in terms of the transformation of the Union campus as it thinks about renewing for the next 100 years. Excellent.
Melissa Román Burch 25:17
So this partnership between LendLease and Union Theological Seminary, help our listeners understand what a partnership like that means from a legal, financial and operational perspective. Sure. So first, let me perhaps address why the partnership exists to begin with between LendLease as developer and Union Theological Seminary, as a campus, you know, who is undertaking a campus rent renewal project. The rationale is that this project is really a project with a purpose. And the purpose here is that Union Theological has 100 year old campus that needs to be renewed, the campus is experiencing the challenges of being 100 years old, pipes are bursting its infrastructure is aging, it has deferred capital repairs that need to occur to, you know, maintain the beautiful architecture of the campus, it needs to be modernized to, you know, adapt to ADA and other codes that, you know, enable accessibility. So all of that requires money.
Melissa Román Burch 26:25
And the unit Theological Seminary found that bill of items that need to be addressed to be totaling a number that was nearing on the entirety of its endowment, so it had to really think creatively about what can we do to enable these repairs. And we touched earlier on the New York city zoning code. And as of right zoning in New York, and one of the things that exist in New York, that also is a true New York City phenomenon are things called air rights. Because every single piece of land in New York is prescribed for how many square feet you can build on it. There are parcels of land that are built in New York, not to their full amount of density, and anything that is excess that is sort of untapped. It is known as air rights. So they are unused development rights that are sitting above existing buildings. But the interesting thing about air rights is that they cannot be transferred across a New York City street.
Melissa Román Burch 27:30
So air rights need to be activated on the parcel with which they are associated with. So in this case, as union was thinking very creatively about how do we address this aging infrastructure, it, you know, came to the realization of having 300,000 square feet of air rights sitting above its campus, and sought to partner with a developer to ultimately figure out how to locate this in a new building, and to sell those air rights to a developer to monetize that asset. So that is what the seminary ultimately did. And that is what LendLease with our partner lnM development are effectuating together for for the seminary.
Atif Qadir 28:14
You talked about the team. So lnM is one of the people that we're working with LendLease there's a very large, very talented team of firms that that LendLease is working with, could you tell us about them and what their different goals are?
Melissa Román Burch 28:28
Absolutely. So partnership is so important in the development business. And there's many different types of partners, and some of them are capital P partners, and some of them are lowercase p and I say that because some of them are more about a mentality about how we approach creating new buildings together. And others are, you know, maybe capital P partners that have sort of, you know, a financial interest, you know, or an equity interest in a project. So this project, Claremont Hall has an incredible group of people that have come together, you know, to support its creation. So first and foremost, we're partners with the Union Theological Seminary, because in addition to developing a 340,000 square foot building on their campus, which is a mixed use building, which contains 165 condominiums that are being offered for sale, the first nine floors of this building contains square footage, 54,000 square feet dedicated to the university itself, so to union and then that 54,000 square feet at our new classrooms, new office space and 27 units of faculty housing.
Melissa Román Burch 29:39
So not only are we partners in the sense that we have entered into a development transaction together, but we are also long term partners because we're going to be sharing this building together and the faculty of the Union Theological Seminary will be living in this building for the foreseeable future. And you know will be an important part of the community of Claremont Hall. So in addition, we also have a development partner lnM development. And we have via house who was our equity partner in the project, and bearings, who was the construction lender for the project. So I think, interestingly, and a real testament to the strength of the partnerships, is that our project has a very long and winding road to the starting block. And what I mean by that is that more so
Atif Qadir 30:27
than normal,
Melissa Román Burch 30:31
which is that these air rights have been contemplated to weapon developed for decades. And I can talk more about that later. But the point that I wanted to make is that in June of 2020, is when we closed on the construction loan, we closed on the purchase of the development rights. And when we closed on all of these partnerships that I just described, and if you wind back the clock, June of 2020, was right in the middle of the early stages of the pandemic. And I have to tell you, there was a lot of uncertainty in the world, it's hard to wind back the clock, and really remember that moment, but it was a very uncertain and scary time in the city. You know, we were reading about, you know, the incredible death toll. And, you know, the toll on people that the pandemic was having, and New York was at the epicenter of that. And I think it really speaks to the conviction of LendLease, and our partners in New York, but also to the conviction that we all felt that there was a purpose for this project.
Melissa Román Burch 31:40
And a reason for this development to move forward was to really help enable an important institution to grow and to secure its future in the city. And so we all came together in a very difficult time to say, let's close on this transaction and move forward and launch into development. So that's what we did in June of 2022. We started, I'm sorry, in June of 2020
Atif Qadir 32:06
luxon. And this project will break know to break.
Melissa Román Burch 32:11
Exactly. And so we are now almost two years later. And today, you'll see we have a building that has a completed superstructure. The building is almost fully enclosed. It is a beautiful building designed by Robert am stern architects, who was the design architect for the project with slice who was the architect of record, and Cetra, Ruddy, who has worked with us on the amenity space, we are working in partnership with buyer blender Bell, who is working with Union Theological on their campus transformation. So you see another form of partnership here, which is that we have a number of design firms that are collaborating together along with the development team to really enable the best outcome for the project. And this project weaves together the old and the new, which I think is quite interesting. This is a historic campus, which I've talked about. But the new tower seamlessly integrates with that campus through an architectural language of its gothic collegiate language that Robert am Stern is so well known for and so skilled in bringing, and I think, in particular, their firm and the way that we thought about the project is really bridging, you know, the past and the present.
Melissa Román Burch 33:26
So borrowing the language of the Neo Gothic campus, but in a way that is suitable for modern living. And there is a piece of the project that is referred to as the refectory. The Refectory was the the old dining hall for the Union Theological Seminary that had over the years really been converted away from an active dining and gathering facility into more of a space for special events, we are weaving that building into our new tower and transforming that Refectory into a very dramatic and very exciting new pool for the project, pool and spa facilities. So I think that what I love is that it wasn't just a blank slate, we didn't just sort of bring, you know, create a footprint from scratch. We are thinking about ways of adaptively reusing older structures and then linking that into brand new construction.
Atif Qadir 34:31
So talk to us about if our listeners walked through their project, describe what they would be seeing along the way in terms of the finishes and the looks of a lot of what you just described.
Melissa Román Burch 34:43
Sure. So this is you know, as I mentioned, a 340,000 square foot building, but just to give you a sense of size and scale, it rises 460 feet above sidewalk level, and stands 41 storeys tall. It has, you know, the project is clad with the beautiful brick and cast stone facade. It is in that classic language of setbacks and outdoor spaces that you have come to see in many of the Rams of buildings across New York City, such as 15, Central Park West to 20, Central Park South, the Belmont on the Upper East Side. So there is this beautiful language of setbacks that I think really enables this building to live in harmony with incredible landmark structures, right across the street, for example, like Riverside Church, which literally sits across the street from this building. As you walk along Claremont Avenue, into the front door of our project, you are walking along the campus of the Union Theological Seminary, so you're walking past, you know, James Hall and James Church and the, you know, in the Riverside Church and succor park, so you're really sort of, you know, immersed into this beautiful sort of historic neighborhood. And, you know, the greenery of the park system, you know, which is right there.
Melissa Román Burch 36:09
And you walk into Claremont Hall, and, you know, go up, you know, as a unit owner, you know, as a residential owner, you know, into this project. And we have an array of units, one bedrooms, two bedrooms, threes, and fours. And I think that that sort of unique and diverse unit typologies is really important here, because, you know, we want to be able to welcome a lot of different types of buyers to this project. And we think many different buyers will be, you know, sort of attracted to the opportunity to live in the academic Acropolis and to, you know, live, you know, proximate to the Union campus. And among the, you know, history of the neighborhood and the proximity to the park system, there are sweeping views from practically every single residents. And that's owning to the fact that the residential units for sale start on the 10th floor, because the first nine floors are really dedicated to the academic portion of the project. So you're already sort of, you know, situated above the campus and have this nice perch, and really sweeping views of the Hudson River of the Midtown skyline of Central Park and a riverside park, you know, to the northeast, west and south.
Melissa Román Burch 37:27
So it is a very special project, we are thrilled that we are launching the project for sale this spring, awesome. We are opening up a sales gallery on the corner of 100, and ninth and Broadway, that will be an important location for us to really share the story of the project. You know, certainly the purpose behind the project, which we think is an important part of the history to understand, but as well as really taking buyers through the, you know, incredible detail and craftsmanship behind the kitchens and the bathroom and the detailing throughout the amenity spaces and the common areas.
Atif Qadir 38:03
Tell us about one Java Street, and what you learned and our learning about establishing relationships and working with stakeholders to create partnerships, like you mentioned.
Melissa Román Burch 38:14
Absolutely. So we've really taken the mindset with all of our development projects, that the fact that they are as of right does not mean that we should not have a robust opportunity for community and stakeholder engagement. So said differently. We really see stakeholder engagement across all these projects as core to the development process. And let me give you a couple examples of that. You mentioned one Java street, so one java is a full city block redevelopment on the Greenpoint waterfront that we are undertaking and will transform from a single storey industrial warehouse that was sitting vacant, into 850 units of housing 30% of those units will be affordable. And we will also redevelop the waterfront into a waterfront Esplanade that will be open to the public. So there were a few opportunities that we have really taken, you know, advantage of to get to early days reach out and connect with the community of Greenpoint. And I think that the design of the waterfront space was a really important part of that story.
Melissa Román Burch 39:25
The Waterfront space is open to the public. So it was an exciting opportunity to go out to community groups like the North Brooklyn neighbors and the waterfront Alliance and the North Brooklyn parks Alliance and the West Street block Association and to engage in a conversation around you know, what do you like about your neighborhood? What is the neighborhood missing? What are the qualities of the open space that you are seeking? What types of activities do you want to do on the waterfront? And those are the types of questions that we work through with each of these groups and order to solicit feedback on the waterfront design. And we're able to incorporate this feedback into our design before the design was complete. So sort of doing these early days before we even had anything for any community group to look at. And that process was really exciting because it actually has led to other ways for us to collaborate.
Melissa Román Burch 40:20
We are also now collaborating with these groups around workforce, hiring, and even collaborating around one of the neighbors was interested in figuring out how we could do more to honor the history of local women in Greenpoint, and we're working on a women's history project together. So so it's really interesting, the pathways that get opened up when you sort of open yourself up to this sort of dialogue. I wanted to give another example actually back from the Claremont Hall project, because he also is an example of how the community dialogue really enabled us to create an innovative opportunity to work together and that is through the Morningside Heights Community Fund. So at the Union Theological Seminary project, I think one of the interesting elements of that is that early days, we met with electeds.
Melissa Román Burch 41:16
And we met with local community groups, including the Morningside Heights Community Coalition, were interested in figuring out a way of making development safe and responsible and their community, and LendLease and our partner lnM, were interested in speaking with them to figure out how we could both communicate with each other around, you know, construction and safety and to sort of bring them into that process, as well as how we could create sort of more connective tissue between our project in the community through the creation of a fund that would enable small community groups in the neighborhood to support their work, we committed 1.1 million of our purchase price to union to be dedicated, actually, to the investment fund $700,000 of that went to Palante, which is a homeless prevention organization that works with tenants on tenant advocacy and tenant rights to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place. And then another portion of that fund $400,000 was set aside for the Morningside Heights Community Fund, which is administered by the New York Community Trust, and the Morningside Heights Community Coalition, you know, to enable the work of nonprofits across Morningside Heights.
Melissa Román Burch 42:43
And there's over 20 groups that have already been funded through this. So that has been actually really exciting. Because we announced this back in 2018, we funded almost all of our commitment, you know, it will be fully funded by the time that we finished construction. But during the construction phase, we already started putting this money to work. And no one could have predicted a pandemic. But what we have heard back from the Morningside Heights Community Coalition and from Palante, is that this money was vital in this period for enabling and continuing the work of supporting those that are vulnerable in the neighborhood. So that is, you know, exciting to see that type of dialogue with community result in sort of a shared commitment to, you know, to fund the work of community groups, but then that it's just more than a check, but that it's really sort of an ongoing relationship around, you know, how is the money being used? How was it put to work? You know, how can we do more with community groups and support their work in other ways?
Atif Qadir 43:51
I think what's so fascinating about the perspective that you described, which is two out of the gates, look for feedback, look, to listen, look to hear what people want, feels like such a, an unusually unique path to take, rather than assuming the stance that it's going to be a contentious relationship right from the get go. And I think a smart and astute a careful and afford thinking developer will think the way that you described, which I think is probably a much healthier perspective than to go in with boxing gloves ready to fight it out. So I definitely, definitely appreciate that. You mentioned bill on day and their focus is on housing access. That's a huge issue. that's top of mind for elected officials. And for many people that live in New York City right now. Could you talk about across your career at the various firms in the various institutions that you have volunteered your time with? What housing access means to you and where you see that kind of moving forward for New York City?
Melissa Román Burch 44:58
Sure, I think think that for us to talk about housing access, we really need to talk about housing supply. And I think it's really important to frame the size of the problem. And there's a lot of different ways to frame this up. But I think simply, there is a dearth of supply of all types of housing within New York City. There is also a dearth of supply of affordable housing within New York City. And there's many statistics that really tried to get at how much people are paying towards their, of their income towards rent, and making sure that that number stays around 30% and doesn't peak up to 50%, which is where we're seeing a lot of households that are experiencing vulnerability and stress, and not just in their city and in many parts of United States.
Melissa Román Burch 45:51
Absolutely, absolutely. So, you know, this is such an interesting challenge, because there's so many ways, I think, that we need to think about as as a development community, and as, you know, civic, you know, as a civic community coming together around this topic. So there's 560,000 housing units needed in New York by 2030. There was a report that was just released by revenue that was put together by aka RF, which is an environmental firm that has done this study in order to quantify the problem. And I think that what's interesting about it is that they identify that out of the 560,000 units that are needed 225,000 of those are needed to, to address sort of the existing need. That's like where we are today, we are already under supplied. Sure. And then 330,000 is a you know, 330,000 units of new production is needed to handle future growth. And that future growth that is anticipated by the year 2030 with the New York. So New York has grown significantly over the last 20 years. I guess, just maybe focusing on the most recent census, the 2020 census, New York's population groups, 600,000 people, and only 248,000 units were produced in that period, New York is expected to grow another 500,000
Melissa Román Burch 47:18
People in the next decade by 2030, the problem is not going to get easier, it's actually going to get more ambitious and more, you know, is going to require a lot more innovation. So I think that I do think this is an important topic for us to touch on. Because there are important tax policies in New York, the affordable New York program has been one critical program that has been utilized by the development community to stimulate the production of new housing. And the tax abatement enables developers to build and receive the abatement in exchange for delivering a certain number of units of affordable housing. In the example at one Java, we're delivering 250 units of affordable housing that's 30% affordable. And that, of course, is without any capital investment from the city.
Melissa Román Burch 48:13
So it's, you know, foregoing future tax revenue for a certain number of years, that program is up for renewal. And actually, this year, it expires in June of 2022. And figuring out the future of what affordable New York should be, is the topic for a whole nother podcast. But it's really a critical question, because there it has been a very successful abatement because it has stimulated housing. In my view, it hasn't stimulated enough. So there is some debate, you know, should it be abolished? And I think that that is a very tricky question, because I think we find ourselves not having, you know, we are not able to say mission accomplished on having produced the number of housing units. So I think that it's prudent to consider what that program should look like moving forward. But it also to me means that government intervention is not only enough here, we also need technological innovation.
Melissa Román Burch 49:17
And I think about coming back to modular, coming back to cross laminated timber and other type of innovations in construction, we need to figure out how we can deliver units faster and more cost effective. And that's going to require technological innovation to address the fact that the construction industry has been challenged for decades around productivity gains. So I do think there is an interesting moment in time because technology firms and development firms are now talking more than ever, they are collaborating more than ever and technology firms are very interested in the issues now of housing and their civic environments. So I think the moment is right for us. But the challenge and the need is quite great.
Atif Qadir 50:06
I think that's, that's really a great point. And some of the themes that you have brought up in this interview so far really weave together in terms of a response to housing access, the idea that density and embracing density. And then in the startup world, we often talk about the mission of our companies, and helped me understand what you see as the mission of LendLease development and the mission of the Claremont Hall project that we discussed today.
Melissa Román Burch 50:38
So the mission of LendLease development is to create places where communities thrive. And that is a global mission for the firm that is deeply felt and held within our development teams and projects. And I love that the word communities thrive is at the heart of this purpose, it's actually not our mission, we actually call it our purpose. And I think it's a great, you know, it's very freeing as a developer, that the company that I'm sitting within, is putting that at the center and core of what it is seeking to do. So that really comes in, you know, what does it mean to have a community that thrives and of course, we talk a lot about this, and we talk a lot about it, you know, in in reference to, to our what we refer to as Mission Zero, which is our corporate goal. For decarbonisation, we have a very ambitious corporate target, and corporate ethos around environmental sustainability and social sustainability.
Melissa Román Burch 51:44
That has been honestly, you know, over a decade in formation, but has now come to two ahead in a very exciting way, it's really opened my eyes to the role that we play as developers and as creators of the built environment. In the climate conversation. One of the truly unique things about LendLease is that we're an integrated firm. We are set apart from almost every New York City developer, because we have construction development and investment under one roof. And so what that means is that we're thinking about sort of the whole lifecycle of the development process, not just the idea generation, but but the execution of that idea through the delivery process and the financing process from day one. And I think that that really enables us to have a different seat at the table in this decarbonisation conversation when you're really getting deep into the supply chain. Because parts of our firm, different arms of our firm are all talking and conversation all the way up at the acquisition stage, about how are we going to figure this out, you know, when we get into the procurement of building materials, and you have to think about it that early if you're really going to try to chip away at a target of getting to absolute zero by 2040.
Atif Qadir 53:00
I think what's so fascinating, what you described is by having that connection, there is the ability then to not only realize that the improvements that are necessary are a large sum of incremental movements and movements forward and this constellation of different technologies and processes that are necessary, but also the idea that with a shared mission, then actually being able to to move the needle is more realizable. So I think that that you have such an interesting perspective and opportunity in the role that you play at LendLease. It's I think it's absolutely fascinating
Melissa Román Burch 53:37
to have, thank you so much. It is exciting to see our developments really be a canvas for, you know, for these ideas to come forward regarding decarbonisation and sustainability. And I look forward, I hope if I have an opportunity to come back and speak with you in the years ahead about one Java because what we're doing there on the environmental and social side is also I think will be some, you know, firsts for New York City. And I think we'll, you know, enable us to really push the envelope and to bring a lot of this innovation into our thinking and delivery. Excellent.
Atif Qadir 54:19
Thanks for joining me today on American building. If you enjoyed this episode, and want to hear more, and subscribe on your favorite listening app, and don't forget to rate and review and friends. I've teamed up with writers for the New York Times and well magazine, the launch a digital media platform to tell the fascinating stories of the impact developers and capital providers I work with at commonplace. Check it out@commonplace.us